Thursday, January 17, 2008

Quick and Boring Pasta with Meat Sauce

I wanted a quick and easy ground beef recipe for Monday night. I went with pasta with meat sauce, the sauce coming from a jar. Add some sliced pears and a side salad of lettuce, carrots, and olives and it's done.

Of course, it's never quite that simple with me. I browned the ground beef in batches and then sauted the some chopped onion. Added the meat back and a jar of Trader Joe's marinara sauce. Let it simmer until dinner time. Unfortunately I found the sauce to be lacking, so I began by stirring in 1 TB cold butter, a trick I often use to enrich a sauce. This helped, as did some fresh cracked pepper. It wasn't quite enough though. So I added a dash of Chipolte pepper. I often use Chipotle or Smoked Spanish Paprika to give depths to soup. Not a wise choice here -- smoky does not go with marinara. It wasn't bad, but I didn't care for it. So then I added a bit of thyme in hopes of fixing it. I was unimpressed, but decided to leave well enough alone.

I wasn't a fan of this dinner, but since it all got eaten I guess it was okay. I'll get a different kind of spaghetti sauce in the future though.

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101 Goals in 1001 Days List

Food Related1. [Done]Make at least 2 different kinds of cheese, [1,2] (1/2)2.[Done] Preserve at least two foods by canning or pickling, or freezing [1][2](1/2)3. [Done] Make no-knead bread4. [Done] Make butter5. Make yogurt6. Make jam (that keeps)7. Make jerky8. Make a soufflé9. [Done] Pack lunch every day for a week10. [Done] Try 10 new foods [1,2] [3,4], [5,6,7][8],[9], [10]11. Enter a cooking/recipe contest

Crafts12. Knit or crochet a pair of socks13. Design and sew a quilt14. Make dipped and molded candles (0/2)15. Make paper16. Make soap17. Make lip balm18. [Done] Make Chocolates (was make gourd bowl)19. Make and fly a box kite20. Finish stain glass box21. [Done] Finish knitted sweater22. Carve something (out of wood or soap)

Art & Writing44. Write a song (instrumental) for piano or psaltery45. Write and submit a non-academic math article46. Paint a picture47. Draw (charcoal/pencil) picture48. Calligraphy a poem or saying49. Submit crossword puzzle for publication50. Revise and submit math article51. Write a short story (fan fic okay)52. Design a new board game

Buy53. Be fitted for a bra and replace ones that don't fit54. Spend $250 on something completely self-indulgent55. Get at least one piece of jewelry for specific outfit and wear it

Maintenance/Household56. [done] Sort through clothes closet57. [done] Organize bookmarks (was Set up an IRA)58. Digitalize CD collection59. Trade 2 games not played for new games60. [done] Get my laptop working properly